Widening the road - for all bass players and teachers

Hello Bass friends!

They are about 1/4 done with a project in front of my home to widen the road and add drainage to our otherwise soggy area.  Exciting, no?  And from where I practice in the front of the house, right now I see all kinds of large machinery being hauled by, lots of flagpeople helping to keep the flow of traffic safe, and not much else.  I live pretty far outside of Rochester, and it's very scenic and hilly, which makes for great road biking and running in the warmer months.  So I really enjoy seeing the bicyclists zip by as I practice.   But alas, they are wisely avoiding my road for the rest of summer.  The good news is that the road shoulders will be widened, making it even safer and smoother for our biking community.

Today, however, I am thinking a lot about the upcoming workshop I'm planning - 

Bass Boot Camp at Nazareth College  

We just named the date: Tuesday, August 19th!  And I was thinking about how this one day camp will be about "widening the road" for more ideas and more kinds of bass playing.  It's not always the case that lots of different ideas are welcome at the table, but I want you to know that here it is!  There are so many styles of bass playing, sizes of instruments, kinds of bows and bow grips, types of strings.... you see where I'm going with this?  

Bass playing isn't just one thing, and teaching it isn't either.  So let's widen the road together.  Let's share our ideas, play with them right away on our instruments, and help each other grow as players and teachers.  Save the date August 19, from 9am to 5pm for a friendly and fun day of bass playing and learning together.  A formal announcement and marketing materials will be coming out soon.  I have a great list of teachers and players joining me for this event:

Jeff Campbell - jazz bass professor at the Eastman School of Music

Katie Fittipaldi - Alexander Technique teacher, cello teacher at the Kanack School 

Nicholas Walker - bass professor at Ithaca College

and of course, me too!  Gaelen McCormick, bass instructor at Nazareth College and the Eastman Community Music School

Until we meet again - happy practicing!

Gaelen

minibasses

Howdy!

I'm posting this mainly so I can remember it when we're ready to launch a minibass program at the Eastman Community Music School....

http://mini.bassico.eu/274?l=en

Caroline Emery, the wonderful educator from the UK, spoke highly of this company at her lecture this past summer at the ISB Convention in Rochester.  I still don't have much experience with children under the age of 8, so I'm not certain yet if we'll delve into this area.  There is a tremendous surge of interest in very young beginners at the ECMS recently and the strings faculty has done an excellent job developing the curriculum for the Eastman Beginning Strings classes.

Friends, if you work in Suzuki bass or the Minibass program, I would love to hear from you!  What age do you find is appropriate for starting them on the minibasses?  In the past, anyone under the age of 8 (ish) I would start on a 1/2 cello, re-strung to be in fourth, but up an octave from normal bass tuning.  This always worked out ok and I would transition them to a 1/4 or 1/8 bass once they grew large enough.  However, now that my daughter (5 years old) is starting on Suzuki violin lessons, I'm way more open minded about how early it is possible to start learning the bass.

Happy practicing on your mini or maxi bass!
Gaelen